A man police accused of killing a 19-year-old Michigan woman more than three decades ago was arrested Sunday in Beaufort, according to the Beaufort Police Department.
Robert Odell Waters, 53, of Beaufort, was being held Monday at the Beaufort County Detention Center on a fugitive from justice charge, jail records show.
Waters is awaiting extradition to Michigan, where he will be charged with open murder, which permits a jury not only to decide whether the person is guilty or not but also to say which degree of murder the case involves.
“Although we were a small part in this investigation, we are honored to be a part of the apprehension,” Beaufort Police Department Chief Dale McDorman said Monday in a news release.
Investigators with the Three Rivers Police Department in St. Joseph County, Michigan, announced Monday in a news release that they had used forensic genetic genealogy on DNA found at the scene. From the DNA, police were able to narrow down suspects to a family they interviewed and fingerprinted, officials said in the release. Investigators then identified Waters as a suspect and traveled to South Carolina to interview him.
Waters turned himself in to police Sunday, said Chief Deputy Stephenie Price, a spokesperson for the Beaufort Police Department.
Cathy Swartz, 19, was found murdered on Dec. 2, 1988, in her apartment. An autopsy determined she died from stab wounds and was beaten and strangled before her death, according to previous reporting from WSBT 22, a local news station. Swartz was found by her boyfriend. Her 9-month-old daughter was in an upstairs bedroom and was not injured.
“While nothing can replace the loss of Cathy Swartz and the impact this senseless tragedy has had, we hope the identification and arrest of a suspect will bring some long-awaited closure to her family and friends,” Three Rivers Police Department officials said in a statement Monday.
When we publish mugshots
The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette publishes police booking photos, or mugshots, in the following instances:
- In situations where a public figure or someone in a position of public trust is arrested
- In cases where there is an immediate and widespread threat to public safety
- In cases where the arrested person is accused of a crime reporters have evidence to believe involved numerous, unknown victims
Reporters will avoid using mugshots as lead images for online articles in order to limit their circulation on social media, except in cases where the public is served by the immediate identification of the accused. Reporters and editors may use discretion in situations that don’t meet the criteria outlined in this policy but still present a compelling reason to publish a mugshot.